Fun Word Games to Bolster Your Vocabulary

Fun Word Games to Bolster Your Vocabulary

Learning new words doesn't mean you need to read the dictionary, you can expand your vocabulary while having fun with your friends or by yourself! Here are a few fun ways to engage in word play.

Taboo This is a great board game to play with company that will inspire friendly competition and be educational. A player from one team draws a card with a word on it. He or she has a fixed amount of time to describe the word without gesturing or saying one of the buzzwords on the card that would be a clear indicator of what the word is. If the team guesses it, they get a point, if they choose to pass on a card because the word is too challenging, the opposing team gets a point.

Scrabble Scrabble is a slow-paced test of vocabulary mastery that partly relies on the luck of the draw. Each team picks seven square wooden pieces that have letters inscribed on them and they attempt to form words on the game board. Each letter has numerical point value, which is added up for each word. Teams can also build off of words already on the board. Players can challenge one another's word choice by consulting a dictionary, which results in a lost turn (depending on who's right). There's even a World English-Language Scrabble Players Association and an annual Scrabble World Championship, which has been aired on ESPN.

Synonym circle Synonym circle is a fun and easy game to play in the car or around the dinner table. First, using a pocket dictionary, randomly select a word. Players must go in a circle and say a synonym of the word. As obvious words are spoken, the vocabulary test gets increasingly challenging. The last person in the circle to come up with a synonym gets a point.